This is the story of our precious daughter, Sara Rose. She was born at 27 weeks. This details our journey as a family through the ups and downs of this situation. She is our 3rd daughter, she has hydrocephalus and now lives with a shunt. She is home now and her older sisters adore her. Here we are, living and depending on the strength and grace of our Father in Heaven.

Monday, April 19, 2010

I know I know I haven't been doing very well with updates. No excuses, just enjoying a busy life. Sara is doing so good it is hard to remember all the good things that are happening. She is eating fruits and vegetables left and right, weighs over 16 lbs, hasn't been sick, sleeps all night every night, and developmentally she is hitting her targets for her adjusted age. She will be 11 months old Sunday (can't believe it's almost been a year since this all began). Is she doing what a normal 11 month old would be doing? No, but for any preemie, much less one with her head issues, it takes 2-3 years to catch up. Her occupational therapist did an extensive evaluation recently and said she is on target for her adjusted ago for sure, but obviously needs time, therapy, prayer, and God's grace to catch up. She'll get there.

Sara is so so so much fun. She is totally interacting with us and others. As I mentioned below, Sara is going to church now, and as people come up and talk to her she is usually all smiles. And it is so cool having all 5 of us together again at church. Love it. I had been missing the best critic of my sermons, Jennifer, Ha! Sara is so laid back, yet very curious. She has a very easy going attitude but responds to sounds and sights with great interest. For instance, it can be very challenging to hold her and send a text message at the same time because she is diving for your phone. She loves to sit on the floor and play with toys. She loves to walk around the house with Jennifer and watch everything she is doing. She loves and squeals when you ask her if she wants to go take a bath. And when you put her in her car seat to go somewhere she is ecstatic - she loves to go. It's amazing and so much fun.

She usually sleeps about 11-12 hours solid at night and takes 2-3 30 min naps during the day. If they are gone somewhere or we are doing something exciting, she will just skip naps and be totally happy. Physically she sits up with no problem, can pick herself up from her back, is getting stronger at getting up from the side, loves to stand, rocks back and forth when on her hands and knees, and likes to lunge for toys when on her hands and knees. Her hair is coming in so fast, she even woke up this morning with bed head - very cute.

She has two teeth on the bottom. Sucks her thumb (no more mid-night paci runs). She only cries when she gets tired at night or hungry and is starting to make different sounds with her mouth. You can even see in the video below, you make a kissing sound at her and she will either suck her tongue back at you or suck her lips (which we haven't gotten on video yet). That's another thing you will see in the videos, she will not perform. She can be doing something funny, we get the camera and she quits. So it's really her fault the updates have been so sparse, she won't cooperate. Ha!

Continue to pray for her, but mostly praise God for all He has done in her life. We catch ourselves often just shaking our heads in disbelief at how far He has brought us over this last year. Who would have thought I would ever post an entry like this one. And for her to be so healthy, happy, developmentally progressing and sleeping all night? Our cup is surely running over. And for that, we give Him many thanks and all the glory!!

I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever;with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.Psalm 89:1

Has God ever created anything sweeter than a sleeping baby?

Emma Grace so wants Sara's hair to be blonde, but it's getting darker the more it grows. Sorry EG, I guess this will have to do.

This is her typically response when we want to film her, cute, funny, but she won't do what we want her to do.

Now she gets it right, sucking her tongue in response to our kissing noises.

Ok, some might not like this, I gave her little pieces of ice the other day and her face was so funny, I had to capture it. Wait until I give her peanut butter, put tape on her paws, and have her chase a flashlight up the wall.

The purple bracelet I am wearing is for March of Dimes, check their website out if you don't know about them - they are the leading non-profit organization for pregnancy and the health of babies - especially premature and babies born with birth defects. There is a walk in Monroe, La May 1st, our church is sponsoring a team to walk in honor of Sara - very kind, thoughtful and meaningful to us. We can't wait!if you want, you can suport the organization in honor of Sara and help out other babies and families.

Monday, April 5, 2010

It’s been a few weeks of “firsts” for Sara. Sara got her first tooth, she had her first trip out to a place other than the doctors office – the library, her first trip to the mall (what else could make a girls heart go pitter patter), her first trip to a restaurant, and finally and best of all we had our first trip to church yesterday.

Very very cool looking back and seeing all of your girls sitting together on Easter Sunday. And Sara did great, Jennifer said she would just sit and play with whatever toy she had while her dad preached and preached and preached and preached, and then kept doing good while he kept preaching.

Sara and her cousin Elisabeth - can you only imagine what they could be saying to each other?

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where helay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”